Tag Archives: Civic Literacy

Roundup: Launching a new Action Plan™

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Stephen Harper launched a new Action Plan™ in Montreal yesterday – the Venture Capital Action Plan™, to create Jobs & Growth™ as part of our Fragile Economic Recovery™. Economist Stephen Gordon wonders how this jives with Harper’s reluctance for government control in any industry, or how it benefits anyone other than consultants and lobbyists.

AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo has been ordered by his doctor to take time off because of exhaustion, which given the events of the past couple of weeks is no real surprise. Meanwhile, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence still refuses to end her liquid diet.

Here is a look at some of the projected costs of implementing the new safe drinking water legislation for First Nations reserves, and whether or not the government will fully fund it. Thomas Mulcair has taken to criticizing Harper’s approach to natural resource development, which he says is behind the Aboriginal unrest, and that Harper needs to sit down with the provincial premiers, as they are the key to resource revenue sharing with the First Nations.

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Roundup: The post-meeting calls to end the hunger strike

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Today in Idle No More news, Thomas Mulcair and the Grand Chief of Quebec Matthew Coon Come are calling for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence to end her hunger strike because sufficient progress has been made, and the fact that her demand to have the Governor General and the PM at the table together is never going to happen ever. One of the founders of the movement says she supports Spence, but not road blockades or the political process with the AFN. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin criticises Stephen Harper’s handling of the First Nations file. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo is preparing to meet with Harper again in two weeks, and credits Idle No More for getting the process started.

The Department of Justice has spent $3.6 million on the Ashley Smith inquiry, but is keeping as much of it as the can under wraps.

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Spence, the GG, and political Calvinball

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It remains to be seen whether or not that meeting between the Prime Minister and the First Nations will happen today because of the omnishambles that the process has become. The day began with the rather amazing feat – that Stephen Harper once again compromised. He asked the Governor General to host a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall for the Chiefs after the working meeting, and the GG accepted and extended the invitation. It was a wholly appropriate way of involving the representative of the Queen as the Chiefs were demanding. But then revolt happened. A group of Manitoba chiefs decided that they were going to follow the lead of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and say that unless the GG was at the table with Harper, then no dice. Of course, Chief Spence’s demands have had all the clarity of the rules of Calvinball, and her demands changed again today so that she wanted Harper and the GG at the table at the same time, and the premier of Ontario. You know, the one who’s tendered his resignation and is busy cleaning out his office while his successor is being chosen? Yeah, that one. And never mind that Chief Spence’s credibility has pretty much been reduced to tatters because of her erratic behaviour and demands – her demand that Harper and the GG be at the table together is completely and wholly inappropriate.

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Roundup: Spence versus Responsible Government

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It was another fraught day with regards to the whole Prime Minister-First Nations meeting, Chief Theresa Spence, and civic literacy in general. Chief Spence first said that she wasn’t going to go to the meeting because the Governor General wouldn’t be there. And then, briefly, she was going to be there, and then no, no she wasn’t and to add to that, she was going to keep up her liquid diet, and had signed her will because she was ready to die. So really, no dramatics there. But not only that, the continued insistence that the Governor General be there to represent “the Crown” is both wrong and misguided, and yet nobody seems willing to tell Spence that she’s barking up the wrong tree. In fact, she’s decided to write the Queen to have her insist that the GG show up – because the Queen is magic, and Canada is apparently still a colony under direct Crown control. “Oh, but it’s an important symbol that he be there,” Spence’s supporters insist. Except that the only symbolic message that would be sent is that the Queen and by extension the GG are the ones who make public policy in Canada and that the whole 167 years of Responsible Government were all just a dream – like that season of Dallas. Because without trying to be too glib, this is exactly what Spence is demanding. And not to put too fine of a point on it, I’ll add this quote: “Spence is demanding a meeting with a ghost, with a Crown that by 1763 had already ceded much of its discretionary powers to Parliament.” This from a post that explains the metaphors that Spence is trying to interact with on a literal basis. And the fact that people don’t understand that it’s inappropriate to involve the Sovereign or her representative in what is supposed to be a working policy discussion is troubling, because it means that they have no working understanding of what Responsible Government is, let alone that it’s a real thing, a system of governing principles that is the foundation for our democracy. That anyone would honestly suggest otherwise, that the Queen could swan in and make proclamations or declarations at whim, is an indictment of the crisis state of our civic illiteracy, and it really needs to be rectified.

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Roundup: Moving the goal posts

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Today in Idle No More news, hunger strike veteran Elizabeth May counsels Chief Theresa Spence to meet with everyone – especially Conservatives, whom she has been rebuffing to date. May also suggests there be a go-between that can meet with Spence and the PM, but Spence’s people rule that out. Spence’s people have also declared that she is no longer giving interviews, nor will she drop the demand that the Governor General be included in the meeting, even though he has stated his desire to stay out of the politics of the situation (as is proper under the rules of Responsible Government). AFN Grand Chief Shawn Atleo has called for a First Nations meeting on the 24th and has invited the PM and the GG to attend, and that could be a compromise that allows both sides to save face – err, except that Spence says that the 24th is too late, and that she intends to fast until the meeting happens (which, it should be noted, appears to be a case of goal posts being moved). And moving the goalposts even more, Spence apparently now demands that the PM and GG meet with aboriginal leaders within 72 hours or there will be “mass demonstrations” around the country – which doesn’t exactly sound either feasible (materials need to be prepared, schedules cleared and leaders assembled), and like a fairly top-down directive from what is supposed to be a grassroots movement.

In related news, Senator Brazeau says he’s getting death threats for his position on the Idle No More protests. Jon Kay looks back at the history of the Attawapiskat treaty, which is a pretty fascinating read (even if you don’t have to agree with his conclusions). Also, despite some of the torque in this piece, there are some pretty interesting questions being raised about the finances of Attawapiskat, where money does seem to be flowing through the reserve despite the third-world conditions there.

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Roundup: Beware the simplistic statements

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Today in Idle No More, NDP MP Charlie Angus warns that the demonstrations could get a lot uglier if Harper doesn’t meet with Aboriginal leaders. Columnist John Ivison cautions against the simplistic statements being traded in the protest, as the issues are complex and some of the assertions being made are as disingenuous as they are inflammatory.

The Mint starts withdrawing the penny from circulation in a month’s time.

Environment Canada commissioned an Ipsos poll with some pretty loaded questions about things like carbon taxes, and then the government put out an equally torqued release based on the results.

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Roundup: Late to the planning stages

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Are we back? It feels like we’re back now.

Despite the fact that we should definitely be planning now for the 150th anniversary of Confederation celebrations that will happen in 2017, both the federal and many provincial governments remain rather mum on the subject, with the federal government barely giving handwavey signals that they are thinking about said anniversary, with things like the Museum of History announcement.

A report on the death of a Canadian soldier by Israeli forces was quietly removed from the DND website, a move that the soldier’s widow believes is a political move by the government meant to shield Israel from criticism.

As the US gets to work on its cyber-security issues, Canada will need to play a part given how integrated much of our infrastructure is.

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Roundup: Page takes aim at the real problem of Parliament

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iPolitics‘ Colin Horgan had a good talk with Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who breaks down some of the key concerns that his office has – that the political executive is now steamrolling budgets through without due diligence and telling MPs to trust them and check their work afterwards, when the Public Accounts come out, because the process is so convoluted. And he’s right – it is broken, but not only because the executive has gamed the system, but because MPs have decided to abdicate their responsibility to scrutinise the estimates because they have other priorities, like their eleventieth Private Members’ Bill that won’t see the light of day, or scoring political points in the scandal of the day, or pet hobby projects that yes, they may care about and may be important, but ultimately at the cost of their actual job of scrutiny. Add to that how they’re using their staff to shepherd through passports and immigration files rather than assisting them in the actual analysis work. Yes, the system needs to be fixed, but I will caution that the changes need to come from the ground up. Voters need to demand that their MPs do their due diligence, and MPs need to take that job seriously and not fob it off onto the PBO, as they have been doing, often under the rubric that his numbers can be trusted because he’s non-partial. Meanwhile, there is insufficient pushback – especially from the government backbenchers, who aren’t supposed to just parrot mindless slogans – and we wind up with a situation like we have today. At least Page is talking about the actual problem and laying the blame where it needs to be laid, rather than just pouting about the current government being mean (as so many others are doing).

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Roundup: Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge

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Yesterday, the government tabled Omnibus Budget Bill 2: The Revenge, and it’s largely tax code changes, along with changes to the Navigable Waters Act (which some call the erosion of those protections), and the bit about MP pensions. Predictably, the opposition is complaining about the size of it – which is their right. But I would also suggest that rather than complain about it day in and day out, they beat the government at its own game and come up with technical critiques, breaking it up by topic among the caucus. It won’t happen, but it would be an interesting tactic that they never employed the last time around.

The tale of Peter Penashue and the federal election in Labrador gets more and more interesting. First the government said it was a “rookie mistake” – err, except the appointed the official agent based on his great business experience, and Penashue stood for office in several Innu elections previous, so he wasn’t a rookie. The Liberal whom he defeated is out-and-out calling Penashue a cheater. And then, we find out that two of the polling stations were closed on election day because an Elections Canada employee drove off with the ballot boxes – mere “hiccups” the agency says. But with the vote so close – 79 votes separating them – perhaps we may see this result overturned as well.

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Lord and Smith Commission, Episode 12

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My friend Destine and I have a new episode of the Lord and Smith Commission, where we talk about the “NDP carbon tax” talking points and other fictions during Members’ Statements, Rob Anders, and some of the national security questions that will dominate the House next week.